Boxed wine for wine snobs

This Boston-based wine company thinks it’s about time you get over your boxed-wine shame.

“Bottles of wine stay good for only two days after opening — and you’re actually paying more for the shipping and packaging than the wine inside the bottle,” says Marian Leitner-Waldman, CEO of premium boxed wine start-up Archer Roose. “[These are] fundamentally the dynamics our company seeks to change.”

Recently rated a “Best Buy” by Wine Enthusiast, Archer Roose offers three boxed wine varieties from Chile: a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Carmenere.

“We have a cult following around our Carmenere,” Leitner-Waldman explains. “It’s kind of an esoteric grape. You don’t expect that.”

Archer Roose partners with high-end wineries, producing wines that would normally retail for $20 a bottle, but is able to deliver them to the consumer for $7 a bottle — in a box or a keg. Each three-liter box (equivalent to four bottles of wine) has a suggested retail price of $29.99.

How?

Instead of bottling and packaging at the source in Chile, the company ships its three wine varieties in 24,000-liter flexitanks, which help cut its shipping costs by 70 percent. The wine is then shipped to New York Harbor and trucked upstate, where it is packaged and ready for distribution.

“Shipping in bulk and the packaging allows us to deliver such incredible savings to the consumer,” Leitner-Waldman tells CNBC.

Archer Roose wines also stay fresh up to six weeks after opening. This is because as the wine is dispensed, the bag inside the box collapses, limiting the wine’s contact with the air. The company claims its packaging is also environmentally friendly — generating 80 percent less landfill waste and a 60 percent smaller carbon footprint.

According to the National Association of American Wineries, the U.S. leads the world in wine consumption — with sales close to $35 billion each year. And it’s not just bottles: Nielsen reports wines in boxes and cartons of all sizes represent more than 8 percent of table wine store sales dollars today — and just under 20 percent of table wine volume.

Founded in 2014, Archer Roose is headquartered in Boston. Currently, its boxed wines are available for purchase in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Virginia. The company intends to roll out to Georgia, South Carolina and Texas later this year.

It’s also getting ready to launch its first French wine — a rose from Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence – as well as a line of 375 ml cans carrying Sauvignon Blanc, rose and “Redsurrection.”